Even before the corona virus pandemic, a significant portion of the U.S. population was working remotely – about 3.4% of the U.S. workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Since the pandemic hit, of course, it has become the new normal.
Today, mobile workers are everywhere. And they’re faced with more tasks and less time to get the job done right. That daunting scenario drives the need for mobility across the enterprise – and the increasing adoption of hardware and software solutions that provide employees with the ability to work effectively wherever they are.
Meeting the Mobility Needs of the Utility Industry
The utility industry faces mounting pressures from a variety of issues, most notably those presented by outdated infrastructure, aging workforces, growing demands for greener energy, more regulation and rising supply chain costs. At the same time, the industry is working diligently to improve the overall customer experience. While research from Capgemini found that 79%of utilities think they are customer-centric, only 7% of consumers agree.
Traditionally, field-service staff used paper-based, semi-automated solutions to manage high-volume, customer-centric processes such as meter installation and repair. These time- and labor-intensive processes can create extensive manual work, errors – and customer dissatisfaction. By improving field workers’ efficiency, utilities can go a long way towards providing faster service resolution and improving customer satisfaction.
While the utility industry has always had a robust mobile workforce, the need for solutions that improve customer-facing field service staff’s productivity and efficiency is greater than ever. The good news is that the industry is embracing field mobility solutions in increasing numbers. With the availability of innovative new technologies, many utilities are reinventing their field service operations to respond to industry challenges.
According to a recent report from Zebra Technologies, “The Future of Field Operations: A Look at the Energy and Utilities Sector Through 2025,” 76% of companies in the energy and utilities sector plan to move from desktops to mobile devices for their operations.
Digital Solutions for Utility Workforces
There is an urgent need for digital solutions that enable real-time tracking of field workforces on multiple mobile devices. Crave InfoTech can help you achieve your digital transformation objectives with our SAP-powered utility solutions.
Our Field Service Manager solution is a disruptive application designed to expedite implementation, realize a rapid ROI and reduce the total cost of ownership by as much as 80%.
The solution comprises fully configurable screens for many standard processes at gas, water, electric and sewer operations, including meter installation, meter reads, credit and collection, parts installation, leak reading, route optimization, and much more.
Mobility and Asset Management
Utilities are also taking steps to ensure that they have the mobile asset management capabilities they need for inspecting field assets and equipment. Crave InfoTech’s Asset Inspection solutions replace paper-based processes with digital applications that enable field workers to capture asset attributes, images, geo-locations in the field – and sync the data with your ERP backend in real time.
Rugged Tablets Designed for Field Operation
Today’s field service teams are under mounting pressure to get the job done right the first time, every time. And speed is essential. That’s why it’s more important than ever for you to provide them with business-tough, user-friendly mobile devices. And to implement an enterprise asset management solution that can help extend the life of critical assets.
According to the Zebra study, rugged mobile devices will be the most prevalent type of enterprise device for field service providers, with 93% adopting rugged tablets and rugged smartphone-like devices by 2025. Your field staff can access Crave InfoTech utility solutions on Zebra rugged tablets that can help them power up job performance and meet today’s high-demand customer service needs in the energy and utility.
